Simple cellphone question (First answer = Best answers)?

Question

I am going to buy a gsm phone on ebay today and it only supports GSM 900 / 1800 / 1900. Will this be a problem because it doesn't have gsm 850.

I am in Canada and plan on either going to Rogers or bell.... do they need 850 or will 900 / 1800 / 1900 be fine?

Answer 1

I think you need to question Rogers or Bell.. first before you buy that phone..  

Answer 2

The phone you are describing would not work at all on the Bell network since they only support CDMA (not GSM).  On the Rogers network, it would have very limited coverage since they have primarily been supporting the 850MHz band.  Rogers first launched GSM on the 1900MHz band, however has strictly been expanding on 850 for the past 5 years so you would get coverage on less than 50% of the network on a phone that only connects to the 1900MHz.  I would say that it is not worth getting a GSM phone for use in Canada unless it supports 850MHz.